Manage Mac Fonts

Get An iMazing iOS Backup On Your Mac

What’s the best way to back up your iPhone and iPad to your Mac? What? You can do that? Who knew? I asked around, and not one of my iPhone or iPad-using friends backs up to iTunes on their Macs.

What’s going on? Apple has made critical backups for iPhone and iPad users rather simple with iCloud. Whatever happened to your iPhone or iPad doesn’t matter because iCloud backup means setting up a new device is simple. But it takes awhile. You could use iTunes on your Mac, wireless or Lightning cable, or you could get something iMazing.

Apple’s Busted Backup

iMazing is a Mac app that helps you back up an iPhone, iPad, or even an iPod touch– to your Mac. Wait. Doesn’t that happen already? Yes. And no. iMazing does not require iTunes or iCloud (and there are some problems with both) but wirelessly backs up iOS devices to a Mac.

Here’s why I have an interest in something like iMazing. Through the nearly 10 years of iPhone and seven years of iPad ownership, I’ve had two devices that would not back up to iTunes. iCloud was OK, but restoring often takes hours. iTunes would not do a backup. Check out Apple’s online support groups and you’ll see many tens of thousands of other iPhone and iPad users with a similar problem that Apple has not been able to fix.

Why not?

Who knows. My mother’s iPad simply could not be backed up to iTunes and always received an error that there was not enough disk space. Huh? That’s crazy. A few times we completely restored the iPad and iPhone’s in question, and the next iTunes backup had the same problem. Not enough disk space on the Mac.

Apple has a massive backup problem it hasn’t fixed for many, many years. Maybe there is an issue with the disk image. Maybe it was the old HFS file system. Even the new APFS file system had the same problem.

iMazing gives Mac, iPhone, and iPad users a few more options than iTunes. From the Mac’s Menubar you’ll be able to see the status of each device you use and back up.

Note the battery status, wireless vs. Lightning/USB connection status, and even the last backup performed.

Sorry, you don’t need to open up iTunes for this. Just as cool, backups can be scheduled– daily, weekly, whenever. And, choose how many backups you want to keep. Restoring an old backup is just a click. The backup is encrypted, too.

Just look at the options you get. Location, Encryption, Automatic, Wireless, and even a low battery notification.

Your iPhone can be backed up even when it’s in your pocket (just needs to be on the same local Wi-Fi network so your Mac can find it). Nothing is transferred over the public internet, either, and you choose where the backup gets stored; on your Mac’s disk drive, an external disk drive, or even a NAS (network attached storage device).

One of the most critical issues iPhone and iPad users have is battery life. iMazing has a built-in battery checker with notification.

Pretty much everything you can think of gets backed up. Music, Photos, Books, Messages, Contacts, Apps (important) and much more. You can set up a new iPhone using iMazing.

Alright, so there’s lots going on with iMazing and the companion app, iMazing mini. What’s the catch?

There are two issues. The first is the iMazing price tag. Think hefty. iMazing mini, though is free, and contains most of the same features, so that’s a good thing.

Apple’s iCloud backup for iPhone and iPad is free, stores most of the important information you want to save, but is limited to 5GB for free, which forces users to fork over $2.99 a month for 200GB of iCloud storage. Restoring works, but is painfully slow as all apps need to be downloaded and re-installed, and often must be reconfigured.

It works but a backup to the Mac is faster but not always automatic, and there’s the aforementioned backup problem, but restoring to a new device is rather simple.

The second issue for iMazing is the geek factor. iMazing is a geek’s friend because it does so much, offers more controls, easier backup and restores, and is very good for a family of iPhones and iPads where someone takes control and manages the backup and restore process for family members. The iMazing mini version, which is free, runs from the Menubar and one Mac can backup other iPhones and iPads.

iMazing is just short of amazing when compared to the cumbersome usage in iTunes, and the options are to die for– features that go beyond iCloud backups.

The Mac's Power Finder

Give your Mac's Finder new super powers, manage files and folders faster, control it all with Path Finder. Get full keyboard navigation in a Finder-like app with dual pane view, folder sync, and a long list of tools.

Death Of 'OMT'

About Jack Miller

I work for a US technology company in Paris, France and switched from Windows PCs to the Mac 20 years ago. My wife said it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. I guess that two out of three isn't bad. Read more of my articles here.

Reader Interactions

« Next Article

Previous Article »

Primary Sidebar

Search Mac360 »

Bandwidth Traffic Monitor

Monitor Internet, Wi-Fi, and home or office network performance from the Mac's Menubar with PeakHour, this week's sponsor. Keep ISPs honest and track Internet usage in real time. PeakHour sets up fast, works with UPnP and SNMP routers.

PeakHour, this week's sponsor, is easy to setup and configure, comes with built-in usage triggers, and a powerful new history engine to capture traffic data.